Precious and Irreplaceable
by HellsShipwright
Summary: We do not realise just how much someone means to us until we realise how close we are to losing them. Tenten learns this lesson the hard way when a certain blonde ninja is involved. Now she must fight to keep him! Naruten (not sure if that is the pairing, IS NOW!) Multi chapter!
1. Chapter 1

**Precious and Irreplaceable**

**We do not realise just how much someone means to us until we realise how close we are to losing them. Tenten learns this lesson the hard way when a certain blonde ninja is involved.**

**Naruten (not sure if that is the pairing, IS NOW!) Multi chapter!**

_Hello everyone, Ship here, bringing you something that has been mulling around the depths of my brain for a while. I've been feeling a bit melancholy lately and this idea popped into my head after watching the Naruto - Pain battle (For what must be the hundredth time!)_

_Now, funnily enough while the idea was something I've been thinking about, it was largely inspired by a Tenten x Naruto story by ArkAngel1179, the story was called Dying in Love, probably one of the best one shots I have read in a long time. I cannot recommend it highly enough especially if you like this pairing._

_So thats my little speech over with, hopefully I can do the pairing justice. Read on and enjoy the carnage that is a Naruto Fanfic!_

_disclaimer - I do not own Naruto, other wise our favourite knucklehead would be a muthafuckin PLAYBOY!_

This wasn't how the mission was supposed to go, _He _was not supposed to end up in this state, especially in protection of her. Why did he have to get in the way?

These thoughts continued to run through the kunoichi's head as she stared down at the wounded man before her, all outside noise just echoing around her, the pouring rain simply a dull patter. A hand on her shoulder, shaking her into alertness, made her remember they were not alone;

"Tenten-san, you need to move, we need to help him."

Sakura, one of the man on the grounds longest running teammates, looked at her, eyes steady and determined.

Turning once more to look down at the man, Tenten reached over, grabbing his scarlet drenched hand and squeezing it; "You damn well better survive, I'll not forgive you if you die from something like this Naruto."

The blonde knucklehead, somehow still conscious despite the jagged slash running from left shoulder to right hip, looked at her. His eyes that had been glazing over now focused, cerulean blue locking with steel grey. She nearly froze again as, during the eye-lock, the cheeky bastard had had the audacity to wink at her. However this was not the typical cocky wink you would usually get from a ninja of his calibre, instead it was the reassuring kind of wink, letting her know things would be okay.

Turning away from the scene, Tenten took a great shuddering breath, while Sakura and the medical team got to work saving his life. The mission had been simple enough, a C-rank delivery mission, with what was left of Team 8 and Team 7 joining together for it. Neji, her beloved Neji, had died during the fourth Shinobi world war, protecting the very man who's life was holding on by a string. Sasuke Uchiha on the other hand, even thinking of the monsters name brought anger to her, had decided he would be Hokage no matter what; As soon as Kaguya had once more been sealed away, cancelling the Infinite Tsukuyomi in the process, he had turned on Naruto attacking him with everything he had. Only the timely intervention of one Kakashi Hatake had prevented Naruto from losing his life there and then and, teaming up to end it once and for all, the last Uchiha had fallen before the two Konoha Shinobi.

Although they would never admit, that battle had scarred the two much more than physically, even Sakura, who had been unconscious through the battle, had been left changed by the final decision of her once love. The three never spoke about it, and everybody accepted it as a scar that would never truly heal, instead putting their all into ensuring it would never happen again. Naruto, even with his power, insisted on taking the Chuunin and then Jounin exams, stubbornly saying that he would not be a true Hokage until he had done things the way they were supposed to be. It had shocked everybody that the number one unpredictable ninja, the hero of the fourth shinobi war, would want to do things by the book when everything he had ever wanted was at his fingertips.

Not attempting to understand his decision, and instead accepting it, Tenten had been more than little surprised when Naruto had approached her about learning Kenjutsu, he had never seemed the type to be interested in learning anything other than what he knew and could work on. However, if she had to guess, it was because of the deceased Uchiha, who had been able to wield a sword with skill. In a sense he was still a partial driving force for Naruto even in death, with the Jounin now being more powerful than any other shinobi.

Which leads her to wonder why, when he could do so many things, why did he simply step in the way of the sword strike. They had been ambushed during the mission, a group of 'revolutionaries' who did not believe the world deserved true peace. Groups like them sprung up from time to time, being put down quickly and efficiently by the nearest hidden village. However this group had had an extremely powerful swordsman with them, wielding twin claymores like they were toys. She had managed to remove one from his grip, but underestimated his single sword capabilities, which had resulted in him getting a lucky strike in with the hilt of his weapon. The finishing blow however, which would have cleaved her head from her shoulders, had been stopped when Naruto had simply appeared in front of her, when he had been on the other side of the battle, fighting of several opponents easily.

The blade would have split an ordinary man in half, so why did he take the risk for her? The thoughts were shaken from her head as she felt a hand on her shoulder; turning to see Lee looking at her with concern in his eyes, she simply said nothing, not knowing what to say in such a situation.

"He knew the risks, Tenten. He clearly felt it was worth, you know how Naruto-san is about his precious people."

She simply nodded, not trusting herself to speak that moment without having some kind of break down, she would not look weak in front of everyone. She was a Konoha Kunoichi dammit!

"He's stable enough to be moved! Lets go!"

The shout caused both Lee and Tenten to jump, Sakura was standing, directing the medical team carrying the young shinobi in a stretcher, ready to move back to Konoha as quickly as possible.

The teams, now ready to leave, began to set off on foot, Tenten at the back of the party. She had just started to move off when her foot hit something metal, looking down she could not believe what she was seeing. Buried in the ground, straight in front of the spot where Naruto had taken the hit, was a kunai. But not just any kunai, a three pronged kunai, with a complex fuinjutsu seal on the handle, one far to complicated for even Tenten to fully understand. She would not have noticed it had she not caught it with her foot, bending down to pick it up she slid it carefully into her vest for safekeeping, hoping to be able to return it to its true owner later.

Seeing that everyone was making good time, she hurried up after them, trying not to wonder too much about why the kunai had been near her during the fight.

_Okay everyone that is the first chapter of Precious and Irreplaceable out in the open. Hope you liked it and if you would like to read more, the you need to click that little review button and say so. _

_As for Wolf and the Princess, that is not an incomplete, I will be starting that up again, hopefully real soon, so I must ask my faithful little readers to bare with me on that. Now this will obviously be a Tenten x Naruto fic, and I am planning on having them in a monogamous relationship, however if you have an idea for a Clan Restoration Fic you would like to see me try, I will happily accept suggestions, however silly. If you have a particular pairing you would like to see either in this story or a separate one then let me know, and I will do my level best to provide it to you. I can work with anything aside from Yaoi people so challenge me, my creative side is itching to be unleashed!_

_As always, looking forward to your reviews_

_Ship_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everybody, HellsShipwright here with another update for Precious and Irreplaceable. Hopefully the people who are following this will enjoy this one as well. **

**Sadly as I write this there have been no reviews for this story, however I hope as I continue to update chapters that people will start to let me know how they find it. Possibly even tell me how I may improve the story, suggest things about characters.**

**Just like Naruto learning Kenjutsu, I intend to take a creative licence with this story.**

The distant sounds of hospital employees going about their job echoed in the background. In one of the many occupied rooms, a young woman sat with her hands in her lap. The occupant of the bed, heavily bandaged, was a certain blonde ninja, finally unconscious due to his injuries. Tenten watched as he began to toss and turn slightly, his usually spiky blonde hair falling in waves, sticking to his sweaty forehead.

Reaching down, she grabbed a cloth lying in a cool water bucket, wringing out the excess water as she did so. Moving forward slightly, Tenten gently ran her hands through his hair, marvelling at the silken locks, before placing the cloth on his brow;

"C'mon Naruto." She murmured softly; "You've come back from worse than this. Keep fighting."

Running her hand through the golden locks of her saviour again, she found the gesture quite comforting, it took her mind off things slightly.

So distracted was she, playing with his hair, that she did not notice someone approaching. A hand on her shoulder gave her a jolt, turning she saw Sakura standing over her, hair tied up in a loose bun for work. Sakura had began to grow her hair out not long after the end of the war, she never explained her reasoning for it, not even Ino knew why, these days it reached down to her shoulder blades.

"Tenten, you know you don't need to be here don't you? I can get in touch with you when he's awake."

The bun-haired girl shook her head;

"I don't want to leave until he wakes up, I need to thank him."

Nodding, the pinkette could fully understand why Tenten felt the need to thank him, it was typical of her old teammate to just jump in front of an attack, no matter how life threatening it might be.

Almost as if on cue, Naruto began to groan, indicating his waking state. Slipping into 'medic' mode, Sakura moved around to the other side, pulling back the covers to inspect the bandages covering his torso.

Tenten had to hold back a whimper at the sight of the bandages, she had seen people injured and die before. Hell she had to watch Neji die after being impaled by the Juubi's spikes, she had seen the damage done to Gai-Sensei after he had unlocked the eighth gate. But the blood seeping through what must have been four layers of bandages simply shocked her, anyone else would have simply been split in half, but miraculously he was still alive. She suspected a great deal of it involved his 'tenant', it was also how he was waking up only hours after what should have been a fatal injury.

"Sakura-chan?"

Naruto was groggy, but conscious by now. The first thing he noticed was the Sakura shade of hair just above his head;

"Shhhhh, don't talk Baka, you're still in a delicate stage of recovery at this point. You shouldn't even be awake."

Reaching into a pouch on her belt, she pulled out a small blue pill, prompting a surprising reaction from Naruto;

"No sleeping pills Sakura-chan, please, you know I hate them."

"Naruto, you need to sleep, the Kyuubi cannot heal you as quickly when you're awake."

"Please, don't make me take it. You know how those pills affect me."

Tenten, a mere bystander in the argument, could not help but wonder what they were talking about. From the sounds of things, Naruto did not like the drug Sakura was trying to make him take; she couldn't really say she liked them either, they just left her feeling very lethargic when she awoke.

Normally Tenten was quite happy to let the two of them carry on, their silly arguments often the source of much amusement for their fellow shinobi. However this was different, Naruto truly looked like he was about to cry, and Sakura looked heartbroken simply from trying to help him heal quicker. It was when she saw tears pricking the corners of the blondes eyes that she stepped in.

"Sakura, give me the pill. I'll make sure he get some rest."

The surprised look on the pink haired nim's face was nothing compared to the betrayed look on Naruto's, who only now just realised she was there.

Nodding regretfully, Sakura placed the pill in Tenten's outstretched hand and left without a word, sliding the door shut behind her.

Moving towards the door herself, the weapons mistress turned the latch to lock it before turning back to her bed-ridden friend. The two of them, due to his Kenjutsu training, had become much closer in recent months, learning things about each other that were usually kept hidden.

For example, Naruto was actually a talented horticulturalist, having been growing a series of bonsai in his apartment ever since the third gave him his first. He had several books on proper plant care, and could possibly even give one Yamanaka Ino a run for her money in the plant department.

Tenten on the other hand, was a bigger surprise, mainly because no one would have expected the no-nonsense weapons mistress of Konoha to have such a talent. She had a beautiful singing voice, melodious and soft. Naruto discovered it one day when he arrived early for a spar, after several attempts to kill him he had managed to calm her down enough to promise not to tell anyone.

Standing by his bed, she watched the look of fear in his eyes;

"Thank you."

He blinked owlishly, not expecting that at all; "Um, you're welcome."

"Why did you do it? Why take the hit for me?"

He frowned, not understanding her cluelessness; "That's simple Ten-chan, you're one of my precious people. You know my nindo well enough by now."

She nodded, of course, he always protected his precious people, self preservation was non-existent in that respect.

"Okay, again though, thank you."

He grinned at that, giving a little laugh then coughing at the pain he was in; "Anytime Ten-chan, anytime."

With Naruto grinning like an idiot, the young woman could not help a small laugh herself, chuckling for a few minutes before regaining her composure.

Holding up the blue pill, the Kunoichi crushed it between her fingers, eliciting a look of surprise from the bed ridden blonde. Tossing the dust to the floor she moved across to the bed, perching herself next to him, allowing access to his silken locks;

"Sleep Naruto, I won't be going anywhere."

The fear that had begun to surface in his eyes faded as quickly as it had come. Nodding slightly, he turned his head to stare up at the ceiling, closing his eyes to try and relax. Smiling softly, Tenten continued to run her finger through his hair, the gesture relaxing her as much as it had him. Without realising it she began to hum a lullaby, one that her mother had sung for her all those years ago when she couldn't sleep. The tune seemed to relax her friend even more as his breathing slowly deepened and evened out, she began to quietly sing the lyrics, her soft voice echoing in the clean hospital room.

Tenten did not know how much time had passed when she began to grow tired herself, all that happened was her eyes began to feel heavy. Looking out the window she saw that night had fallen some time ago, Naruto having slept the entire time she had been singing.

Not wanting to leave him to wake up alone, she slowly slid off the bed, the movement merely drawing a small murmur from the sleeping man. Seating herself on the chair by the bed, the bun haired woman grasped his hand before laying her head on the bed, making herself as comfortable as possible before nodding off herself.

Her breathing indicated her sleeping state, and as if on cue, the lock to the room slowly turned open, the door sliding to allow a single figure in.

Tsunade Senju, Hokage of Konoha, approached the sleeping pair, a blanket bundled up in her arms. She had sent Sakura and Shizune home hours ago, waiting for the young woman before her to fall asleep, and wanting to visit Naruto without anyone knowing she had.

Running her fingers through the young mans hair herself, she whispered; "Always causing me to worry aren't you Gaki? You really are a knucklehead."

Leaning down she gently kissed his cheek; "You will protect those precious regardless of the consequences won't you?"  
The kiss caused him to blush slightly, his body reacting even though he was still unconscious.

It was not the first time the buxom blonde had visited him during one of his many stays in the hospital, she loved the young man and always fretted, worrying that one day he might come home in a body bag instead of bandages.

Looking over at Tenten, she was surprised to see the young woman look so peaceful, as the top med-nin of Konoha, she was fully aware of when people were not getting enough sleep or were distressed. Tenten had rarely had a fitful nights sleep since the end of the war, her mind replaying Neji's death over and over, waking her up in tears. The pills she had been taking removed dreams, but were not designed for long term use, just to allow the body to heal to the best of its abilities.

This was the first natural sleep she had had in months, a good example of Naruto's influence on people.

Laying the blanket over the younger woman's shoulders, Tsunade gently removed the pins and ties keeping Tenten's hair up, knowing it was not comfortable to sleep like that. Her light brown locks tumbled down, the Hokage gently moving her hair out the way so she could sleep properly;

"Thank you for staying with him." She murmured, before silently moving to the door, sliding it open and departing.

Tenten merely shuffled, moving slightly closer to Naruto as she continued to grip his hand.

—

Naruto awoke to find himself still in the hospital, blinking the sleep from his eyes, he groggily attempted to sit up, only find himself falling back onto the pillow at the sudden sharp pain across his torso; _"Oh that's right." _He thought to himself; "_That jerk nearly sliced me in half." _

Looking down he saw a sight he had genuinely not thought he would live to see.

Tenten was next him, her head next his lap on the bed, her hand grasping his tightly even in her sleep. What really stunned him however, was seeing her long silken hair out of her customary twin buns, falling down her back in waves.

Gripping her hand in his own, he attempted once more to sit up, this time much more slowly than the previous attempt. With some success, he managed to prop himself up on one elbow, before reaching over tho pet his bedmates hair, chucking when she moved her head further into his touch.

The motion of his hand in her hair woke her up, causing her to stretch before pushing herself up with the hand not currently holding his.

Blinking at him sleepily, he did his absolute best to commit the image before him to memory. Never before had he seen Tenten, tough as nails, weapon obsessed Tenten, look so vulnerable, so cute. He could not resist smiling at her still sleepy expression; "I should get myself injured more often if I can expect to wake up to this sight. You suit your hair down by the way Ten-chan."

These words, coupled with Tenten's realisation at her position, caused a bright red blush to appear on her face. This was the final straw for Naruto, his heart rate elevated, causing his own cheeks to heat up with a blush of his own.

"Baka!"

With this shout, Tenten leapt from the bed, running into the bathroom and locking the door. Looking in the mirror she noticed someone had removed her hair pins and bands last night, while grateful as it was uncomfortable for her, she wondered who did it; Naruto was fast asleep when she turned in for the night. Reaching into her sleeve for a storage scroll containing her spares, she proceeded to return her hair to its normal state.

Naruto meanwhile was chuckling to himself at his friends reaction, wondering what had caused her to be so embarrassed;

"My shift is just starting and already you're causing trouble."

Turning he saw his pink haired teammate entering through the door; "Morning Sakura-chan!"

His exclamation, combined with the sight of his energy, let the pinkette know that Tenten had managed to get him to sleep, she was not really interested in how;

"Looks like you're feeling a lot better this morning. I just need to check your wound and see how healed you are, however don't expect to be leaving anytime soon, its a miracle you're still in one piece."

Naruto grinned at this; "That's fine, as long as I have Ten-chan to keep me company I should manage."

Sakura, only half listening, nodded aimlessly, that is until she realise what he said;

"Of course, she will need to- Wait, what?!"

**Aaaaaaaannnnndddd… Time, that is it for me people I reckon this is a good place to end it. I already have a good idea on how to start the next chapter, it involves threats of bodily harm, misconstrued words and an admittedly fluffy situation. So look forward to that.**

**I'm curious, would people like to see some unrequited love from more than just Hinata? Cause I have a few good idea's, at least for two more kunoichi. If not just let me know and I will stick with Hinata and my one other definite.**

**I won't say much more other than to please keep the review button going, especially if you like the story so far. **

**As stated by 'Bob', I also enjoy this pairing and intend to see it through to the end, however long that may be.**

**Also people may notice that I focussed on hair quite a bit, no joke that is actually something I discovered about a friend of mine. If you stroke her hair she is almost exactly like a cat, relaxes her and there is bodily harm if you stop mid way through. Yikes.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Till next time.**

**Ship**


	3. Chapter 3

**Helloooooooo Everybodyyyyyyy! Ship here, providing you with yet another instalment of Precious and Irreplaceable.**

**Now this chapter is one I have worked quite hard on, I feel that I owe it to my reviewers and readers to try and make some sense of where I am taking this story.**

**First of all I have a couple of shout outs to make to a couple of reviewers who have inspired me to do better! To be more consistent with my stories!**

**BananaFoxKayri - I thank you for the positive review, I also appreciated the advice you have given me, which I shall begin to do with my stories. Who knows, this one might run away with me yet. Keep reading and reviewing, let me know what you think.**

**Grimvid - Apparently I have met someone as eccentric as I am! BROTHER! On a serious note, I found it really heart warming to see a reader taking such a vested interest in the early stages of my story. I can only hope I will improve the story to suit all readers including yourself, so keep the faith and let me know. :) **

**I do not however make any apologies for the corniness! For I am a romantic! You have nothing to fear about me simply saying ****_This has happened, however there will be no description as to how or why! So suck it! _****I am not that type of writer, everything is going to be explained, hopefully to a satisfactory level.**

**The kyuubi thing is really just something I decided to add as a plot device, but I will attempt to work some kind of explanation into things. All I ask for is patience. :)**

**LD 1449 - The way I see it we rarely see the characters interacting unless they are out in the field, at which point emotions will be heightened and they are under great amounts of stress. My belief is that when they are simply in the village, acting normal is probably what they will do, Sakura cannot unfortunately simply be her violent self particularly with Naruto being as injured as he is. I have, in fairness, taken a little poetic licence with their attitudes. However that being said I am trying my best to make the characters be themselves as I see them. You'll just have to keep reading as I will try to keep improving.**

**So with the shout outs out of the way, I will simply allow my cute little readers to bask in the story and make their assumptions. **

**So with that, enjoy the story…**

**GO!**

"Hey, Sakura-san."

"Hmm?"

"Can you tell me why Naruto did not want to take a simple sleeping tablet?"

The pinkette sighed, placing her tea mug down on the table they sat at. After the commotion earlier on, The Hokage herself had come by to see the blonde knucklehead, promptly kicking her apprentice and the weapons mistress out. The two of them had not really had anything to do so they had gone to grab some breakfast and morning tea, finding the hospital cafe satisfactory for the time.

Leaning forward, Sakura eyed her warily; "This stays between us?"

Tenten nodded, now more curious than ever, what could be so bad?

"The pills give him nightmares. Although they do make him sleep, he suffers psychologically from it."

The now confused woman frowned; "But I thought the whole idea of the pills was to provide a restful, dreamless sleep?" The whole reason she even knew about the effects was that she took them regularly, purely to escape her own nightmares.

The medic shook her head; "It's something to do with the Kyuubi's chakra, even though Naruto managed to curb its hatred, it is still a sentient creation made from malicious chakra. The pill reacts to this and actually creates realistic nightmares, forcing him to relive the traumatic events of his life. It's why he didn't want to take it, and I notice you didn't make him."

There was an accusatory tone to the end of that explanation, forcing Tenten to release a sigh of her own, placing her cup on the table next to Sakura's; "He did not want to take the pill, he was begging you for Kami's sake. He's my friend and I saw a way to help him."

"So how did you manage to get him to sleep again?"

The bun-haired woman actually blushed at this, leading to some impure thoughts from her observer; "A little secret I learned a long time ago about Naruto, a way to relax him without resorting to drugs, or _sex._" A pointed glare followed that last part, cutting of the perverted thoughts Sakura had clearly been thinking.

Picking up her tea, Sakura took a sip before speaking again; "That kind of leads me to my next question, since when are you and he such close friends? You don't exactly have a lot in common, plush I would imagine you'd struggle to not get frustrated by his childlike attention span."

Tenten chuckled at this, taking a sip of her own tea before placing it back down and begging her explanation;

_(Flashback no Justu!)_

_The sound of metal on metal echoed throughout the near deserted training field. In the middle of this field, a young woman stood, a kunai held in each hand, four more in the air above her. The clashing sound was the young woman juggling two kunai with each hand, using the kunai she held to repeatedly hit them up in the air. The weapons mistress of Konoha had developed this training method to develop her hand-eye coordination and her reflexes, one wrong move could lead to some harm._

_She had been at this for several hours now, from the rising sun to what was now mid lunchtime. However she had no intention of stopping, as had been the case for several months now, ever since the end of the great war. She would get up, practice till she could not move, then retire to her apartment._

_A sudden sound behind her caused her to drop the four kunai she had been juggling, the four landing safely in the ground as she moved around. Throwing one of the kunai and readying the other, she expected to here the usual 'thunk' of a blade entering a body, however she was more surprised to here a familiar voice; "Maa Tenten-san, I know I should have given you a shout or something but was it really necessary to throw a sharp pointy thing at me?"_

_Realising she was not about to be attacked, the weapons mistress relaxed and stood; "Well Naruto-san, you should have let me know you were there instead of sneaking up on me."_

_"__I wasn't sneaking Datteboyo! I was actually coming to ask you a favour!" Tenten paused at that one, wondering what the knucklehead could want._

_"__I'm listening."_

_He scratched the back of his nervously, drawing her suspicion at what the Jinchuuriki could want;_

_"__You're a master with all kinds of weaponry right?"_

_She rolled her eyes at this; "No, I'm called the weapons mistress of Konoha because I am the foremost knitting expert, what do you think?!"_

_He flinched at that, acknowledging the stupidity of the question he just asked; "I asked because I was wondering if you would… Train me in Kenjutsu."_

_Tenten blinked owlishly, not really sure if she had heard that right; "Did you just say you want to learn Kenjutsu? From me?"_

_He blushed; "Well, yeah. I mean, I've seen how you are with weaponry. I figured if I was gonna learn from anyone it should be you."_

_Why would one of the most powerful ninja in the world, want to learn Kenjutsu from her? When asked the question he simply shrugged; "You're one of the few I would trust to train me properly instead of lazing around."_

_She opened her mouth to respond but he whispered something else, something that froze her tongue; "And Neji always said you were the person to come to if I needed help with weapons."_

_Being reminded of Neji usually did her no good, however this was different; this was not someone trying to console her, or talk about the good times in the hopes of her moving on. It was simply someone telling her about the faith her deceased teammate had had in her, and that made all the difference in the world;_

_"__Do you have a sword of your own?" She asked, almost knowing the answer before he spoke it._

_"__Um, no, I was kinda hoping you'd know a good place to get one."_

_Tenten shook her head smirking; "I know the perfect place. Come with me."_

Tenten took a sip from her tea, pausing in the story. The pinkette across from her who had been listening with rapt attention jerked as if stunned;

"So just like that you agreed to train him?"

The bun haired girl shrugged; "I've always been curious about him, even from the chuunin exams when he beat Neji. I figured helping him learn a new fighting style wouldn't hurt."

Not even aware she had mentioned Neji without the now expected flash of pain, Sakura decided to not mention this little fact, instead storing it away for future reference;

"So what happened after that?"

Taking another sip, Tenten grinned, almost maniacally; "He met my father."

_(Flashback no Jutsu!)_

_"__Ah Tenten, welcome back, now what is this you've brought back?!"_

_Even indoors the giant of a mans voice could have carried over fields from the volume, Naruto found himself looking up into the ultimate stereotype of a weapon smith, beetle black eyes looking down at him as one would a lost dog or fox in this case, scarred, muscled arms crossed with a hammer the size of the blonde Jinchuuriki hanging from a strap on his wrist._

_"__Dad, c'mon, you know who Uzumaki Naruto is. You're not that behind on the times. Now stop messing around, he's a customer today."_

_Naruto himself who, despite being now one of the most powerful shinobi in the world, found himself terrified of this man who looked like he ate his kind for lunch and then some; however upon hearing he would be a customer he relaxed some, remembering the hefty reward he received from the daimyo's of the united countries._

_The big man, upon hearing this, unfolded his arms and placed the hammer on the ground, only causing the ground to mildly tremor as a result. He crossed the room in two strides and took a closer look at Naruto, who fidgeted slightly at the appraising look;_

_"__You ever used a sword kid?"_

_Shaking his head earned a slight chuckle from the man, who stuck his hand out; "Guraundo Ō, TenTen's father, and you're probably the first man outside of her team she's brought to this shop."_

_Ignoring the incredulous cry of 'Dad!' behind him and simultaneously trying to avoid having his hand crushed, Naruto managed to grind out through the pain; "Nice to meet you sir, Tenten-san said you could help me find a sword?"_

_The big man grinned at that, turning and raising a bushy (though not as much as the blue and greens beasts of Konoha) eyebrow towards his now increasingly red daughter; "Well now Tenten, training this young man in the ways of the sword eh? Interesting."_

_Before the fourths son could ask why it was interesting, the blacksmith released him and turned, speaking as he went; "Follow me kid, I think I have the perfect weapon for you."_

_Turning to look at his fellow shinobi, Tenten merely waved him ahead, as if shooing a dog (fox!), still blushing heavily as she did so._

_Shrugging and deciding to leave it for now, Naruto followed the her father out to the back where the non display weapons were kept. Sighing, Tenten followed after a bit, hoping to add her own opinion to the jinchuuriki's eventual weapon._

**Aaaaaaaaand break! No people I am not dead, I have just a lot on lately, so for that I can only apologise to you, the next chapter is currently in the works and I am hoping to have it up sooner than this one had taken. **

**I don't really have a lot to add that hasn't already been said so I will simply wish y'all a nice time reading and hope you won't be too critical of my appalling time keeping. Let me know and as always my marshmallows are ready for the flames, however criticism is gratefully accepted as always, provided it is sensible.**

**R&R people,**

**Peace!**

**Ship**


End file.
